Ten students from Queen’s University Belfast’s Queen’s Propulsion Lab have been selected for the first International Lunabotics Competition, which the university says will take place at the University of Central Florida in October 2026. Their prototype rover is designed to excavate lunar material, navigate obstacles and use the material to build a wall.
Who is competing, and why?
The team is part of Queen’s Propulsion Lab (QPL), a student-led group at Queen’s University Belfast. Queen’s reports that the students earned their place after success at the UK Lunabotics competition earlier in 2026; its report does not give the UK event’s exact date or the team’s ranking.
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QPL Head of Robotics Caolán Boyle said the team had put “hundreds of hours” into preparing the rover and was waiting for the chance to test it in the competition’s lunar yard. Queen’s says the trip is supported by the Queen’s Annual Fund.
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What will the Queen’s rover do?
The rover is a prototype for lunar construction, not a rocket and not actual lunar hardware. The task described by Queen’s is to dig up lunar material, drive across obstacles and use the excavated material to build a wall.
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That kind of work has a practical counterpart in NASA’s broader Lunabotics challenge. NASA describes student teams building robots to make berms from lunar regolith—the loose, fragmented material covering the Moon. In NASA’s challenge context, berms could help protect landing and launch areas from blast effects, shade cryogenic propellant storage, or shield nuclear power plants from radiation. Those are potential uses of lunar construction; Queen’s has not said its rover will perform those tasks on the Moon.
Where and when is the competition?
Queen’s places the International Lunabotics Competition at the University of Central Florida (UCF) in October 2026. The event is also called the “2026 NASA International Lunabotics Championship” in UCF’s Florida Space Institute FAQ, which identifies NASA, Caterpillar and UCF as organizers.
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There is also a separate May schedule for NASA’s annual 2026 Lunabotics Challenge. NASA announced qualification at UCF’s Exolith Lab in Orlando from May 12–17, 2026, followed by a final at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex from May 19–21, 2026. Those dates belong to the annual challenge schedule, not the October International Championship reported by Queen’s.
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| Event as identified by sources | Published 2026 schedule | Location |
|---|---|---|
| International Lunabotics Competition / “2026 NASA International Lunabotics Championship” (Queen’s and UCF) | October 2026; exact dates not stated in the cited Queen’s and UCF reports | University of Central Florida |
| NASA’s annual 2026 Lunabotics Challenge (NASA) | Qualification: May 12–17, 2026; final: May 19–21, 2026 | UCF Exolith Lab in Orlando for qualification; Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex for the final |
How this fits NASA’s student robotics program
NASA says its annual Lunabotics Challenge has been held since 2010 and runs over two semesters, using NASA systems-engineering processes. The challenge is intended to give students experience in coding, engineering, manufacturing and fabrication. NASA also says student designs and data can help explore solutions relevant to Artemis and future lunar infrastructure.
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The Queen’s report describes the students’ October selection and rover task; it does not establish that the Queen’s team attended NASA’s May qualification or final. The two schedules should therefore be treated as distinct rather than as stages of a single event.
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